Integration Toolkit Research Articles

Integration of computer-aided diagnosis/detection (CAD) results in a PACS environment using CAD–PACS toolkit and DICOM SR

Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) is a mature technology in health care delivery for daily clinical imaging service and data management. Computer-aided detection and diagnosis (CAD) utilizes computer methods to obtain quantitative measurements from medical images and clinical information to assist clinicians to assess a patient's clinical state more objectively. CAD needs image input and related information from PACS to improve its accuracy; and PACS benefits from CAD results online and available at the PACS workstation as a second reader to assist physicians in the decision making process. Currently, these two technologies remain as two separate independent systems with only minimal system integration. This paper describes a universal method to integrate CAD results with PACS in its daily clinical environment. The method is based on Health Level 7 (HL7) and Digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) standards, and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) workflow profiles. In addition, the integration method is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant. The paper presents (1) the clinical value and advantages of integrating CAD results in a PACS environment, (2) DICOM Structured Reporting formats and some important IHE workflow profiles utilized in the system integration, (3) the methodology using the CAD-PACS integration toolkit, and (4) clinical examples with step-by-step workflows of this integration.

CAD–PACS integration tool kit based on DICOM secondary capture, structured report and IHE workflow profiles

Computer aided diagnosis/detection (CAD) goes beyond subjective visual assessment of clinical images providing quantitative computer analysis of the image content, and can greatly improve clinical diagnostic outcome. Many CAD applications, including commercial and research CAD, have been developed with no ability to integrate the CAD results with a clinical picture archiving and communication system (PACS). This has hindered the extensive use of CAD for maximum benefit within a clinical environment. In this paper, we present a CAD–PACS integration toolkit that integrates CAD results with a clinical PACS. The toolkit is a software package with two versions: DICOM (digital imaging and communications in medicine)-SC (secondary capture) and DICOM–IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise). The former uses the DICOM secondary capture object model to convert the screen shot of the CAD results to a DICOM image file for PACS workstations to display, while the latter converts the CAD results to a DICOM structured report (SR) based on IHE Workflow Profiles. The DICOM-SC method is simple and easy to be implemented without ability for further data mining of CAD results, while the DICOM–IHE can be used for data mining of CAD results in the future but more complicated to implement than the DICOM-SC method.

Design and implementation of an end-to-end operation system for digital television

This paper addresses an end-to-end operation system for digital television (DTV) applications. It is designed to develop, broadcast, download and execute interactive DTV applications. The system is composed of three subsystems. They are application execution system (AES), data broadcast system (DBS) and application development environment (ADE). AES, generally called DTV middleware system, is the software system running in DTV se-top box (STB) to execute and control interactive DTV applications. It isolates DTV applications from STB hardware. DBS is used to multiplex, transmit and broadcast DTV data, as well as manage DTV applications. ADE is a special integrative toolkit designed for developing interactive DTV applications. Application developers can edit, compile, debug and test a DTV application in ADE. Then DBS broadcasts the application through DTV channel. After being downloaded into STB, the application is executed by AES in the STB. Design and implementation of these three subsystems are presented in this paper. The proposed system has been used in real environment of interactive DTV operation

A Service-Oriented Composition Framework with QoS Management

Quality of Services (QoS) management in compositions of services requires careful consideration of QoS characteristics of the services and effective QoS management in their execution. This paper describes an approach to implementation of QoS management in compositions of Web services in the context of Computational Quality Attributes and Service Level Agreements. Building on prior research work of others in the use of Message Detail Records, this paper integrates the results from several research threads to propose a QoS Management Architecture to support dynamic processing of service- and flow level quality attributes to support QoS requests and analyses in Web-service-oriented architectures. The study of QoS management in a Web service composition framework was motivated by the evolution of the composition framework for a toolkit for integration and experimentation of distributed system applications. A message tracking model is proposed for supporting QoS end-to-end management by applying the Computational Quality Attribute (CQA) concepts of Flow-Service-Quality engineering. Quality attributes are defined, computed and acted upon as dynamic characteristics of systems, with values constantly changing in operation. A CQA provision is illustrated, with a simple Web Services travel reservation example. The example is elaborated to illustrate QoS end-to-end management using the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message tracking model.

The Merck Gene Index browser: an extensible data integration system for gene finding, gene characterization and EST data mining.

To make effective use of the vast amounts of expressed sequence tag (EST) sequence data generated by the Merck-sponsored EST project and other similar efforts, sequences must be organized into gene classes, and scientists must be able to 'mine' the gene class data in the context of related genomic data. This paper presents the Merck Gene Index browser, an easily extensible, World Wide Web-based system for mining the Merck Gene Index (MGI) and related genomic data. The MGI is a non-redundant set of clones and sequences, each representing a distinct gene, constructed from all high-quality 3' EST sequences generated by the Merck-sponsored EST project. The MGI browser integrates data from a variety of sources and storage formats, both local and remote, using an eclectic integration strategy, including a federation of relational databases, a local data warehouse and simple hypertext links. Data currently integrated include: LENS cDNA clone and EST data, dbEST protein and non-EST nucleic acid similarity data, WashU sequence chromatograms. Entrez sequence and Medline entries, and UniGene gene clusters. Flatfile sequence data are accessed using the Bioapps server, an internally developed client-server system that supports generic sequence analysis applications. Browser data are retrieved and formatted by means of the Bioinformatics Data Integration Toolkit (B-DIT), a new suite of Perl routines.

OASIS: An Integrative Toolkit for Developing Autonomous Applications in Decentralized Environments

Organization Activity Support and Information System (OASIS) is a computer-based information system that supports; the construction and deployment of business applications. It is aimed at supporting the following 4 major organizational needs: (a) using data processing, reasoning, and communication in an integrative manner; (b) allowing control over one's own applications; (c) tying together independently developed applications for organizational use; and (d) simplifying certain types of changes or evolution. OASIS accomplishes these needs by viewing organizations as consisting of autonomous units with the capability of interacting with each other and by the integrative use of blackboards and forms. This article describes the OASIS system, presents a small example of its abilities, and describes planned future research.

OASIS: An Integrative Toolkit for Developing Autonomous Applications in Decentralized Environments

OASIS: An Integrative Toolkit for Developing Autonomous Applications in Decentralized Environments

Exorcising daemons: A modular and lightweight approach to deploying applications on the Web

The World Wide Web (W3) is increasingly been seen as a platform for enabling remote access to new and existing applications from different client machines. While some applications have been deployed through specialised, proprietary W3 servers, the majority utilise the CGI interface provided by standard servers to provide all application functionality external to the server itself. Using experience gained in developing the BSCW Shared Workspace system, we argue that this “API-based” approach is both too restrictive and too “heavyweight” for the needs of many applications, which often require a small subset (or a different implementation) of the features the server offers. In contrast, we propose a more modular, component-based approach to enable applications for the World Wide Web, and present a prototype implementation of an integration toolkit which demonstrates this. As well as the potential for greater flexibility, performance and smaller application size, this approach also naturally extends to other methods of access and interaction such as electronic mail.